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Samanosuke
Samanosuke Akechi (明智左馬介秀満) is the main protagonist of the first and third installments in the Onimusha series: Onimusha: Warlords for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Windows, and Onimusha 3: Demon Siege for the PlayStation 2. He also appears as Tenkai, a supporting playable character in the fourth game Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams, and as one of the combatants in the fighting game spin-off Onimusha Blade Warriors, both on the PlayStation 2. He is loosely based on the historical figure, Akechi Hidemitsu. History Background Samanosuke was born in the year 1535, during Japan's Sengoku Period. The circumstances of his birth (location, exact date) are unknown, but it is implied in Onimusha: Warlords that Samanosuke was a samurai in service to the Saito clan of Mino province (now Gifu Prefecture). A struggle for leadership in the clan (the first game references the historical in-fighting between Dosan Saito and his son Saito Yoshitatsu) previous to the events of Onimusha: Warlords saw Samanosuke separate himself from the clan and travel the world, effectively becoming a ronin. During these travels he encountered and befriended the female ninja Kaede, who became his partner and confidant. Over the next 4 years they both develop trust, honor, respect and deep feelings of love for each other (as seen in Onimusha Blade Warriors). Upon his return somewhere in 1571 (months after the events in Onimusha 2) Samanosuke and Kaede return to assist his uncle, Akechi Mitsuhide, in an absolute secrecy. For the next 11 years Samanosuke and Kaede travel all over Japan, slaying Genma wherever they may find them. Onimusha: Warlords Samanosuke is first seen in the game's opening cinema on a cliff overlooking the Battle of Okehazama in 1560. In a reference to the Nobunaga's Ambition series of video games, the battle ends with Nobunaga being fatally shot through the throat on the eve of his victory. The opening cut scenes of the game go on to illustrate that it’s one year later and that Samanosuke has returned to Japan to honor the request of Princess Yuki, daughter of Dosan Saito. In her letter to him she expresses fear at the strange events taking place in her home, Gifu Castle, and pleads for Samanosuke to "save her". He responds, but is too late to stop two demon ninja from abducting her. The opening cinema closes on a shot of an apparently live and well Nobunaga seated atop a fierce warhorse at the head of a massive army. Samanosuke catches up with the ninja on the outskirts of the castle and fends them off, but his reunion with Princess Yuki is brief as Osric, a giant red demon wielding a massive club, springs from the ground. The battle between the two is short-lived, and Yuki is taken away by the demon as Samanosuke loses consciousness, while unconscious, Samanosuke is met in a void by the spirits of the Oni clan (this was translated as "Ogre" in the first game, and subsequently as "oni" for the rest of the series). They give him their power in the form of a magical gauntlet, which allows Samanosuke to absorb the souls of fallen demons and equip various weapons charged with elemental energy, tasking him to defeat the demons. As Samanosuke adventures through the castle and the surrounding areas, he uncovers a plot by Nobunaga's general Tokichirou Kinoshita (the game asserts that this man becomes Hideyoshi Toyotomi later in life) and the demon scientist Guildenstern to use Princess Yuki as a sacrifice for a dark ritual to give the resurrected Nobunaga untold power. As Guildernstern's notes explain, the genma (the name of the demons in the Onimusha universe) have made this contract with other humans in the past (examples cited by Guildenstern include Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan); in exchange for loyalty to the genma and a guarantee of constant human sacrifice, the genma give the contractee their power and superior technology. To perform the dark ritual, the genma require the blood of a pure woman who was born in the land the contractee is from, held within a chalice made from her skull, which is to be blessed by the genma king Fortinbras and drunk by the contractee to seal the deal. Through his efforts in the game, Samanosuke manages to thwart the plans of the genma and kill Fortinbras at the game's climax. The epilogue of the game explains that Samanosuke's whereabouts are unknown. The player can assume that Samanosuke survived, however, as a cut scene after the credits show him looking upon Inabayama Castle from a distance. Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny Samanosuke does not appear in the plot of Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny, but the effects of the first game are registered in several documents found by the player in the game. He is mentioned by name in one particular document labeling both him and Jubei Yagyu, the protagonist of Onimusha 2, as high-level threats. He can also be seen in a teaser trailer included with the game for Onimusha 3. Onimusha Blade Warriors It is later explained by Samanosuke that he was able to escape and says that he hid himself away from everyone. After Samanosuke destroyed Fortinbras he couldn’t remember what had happen to him when he woke up and saw Nobunaga looking down at him. He saw that Fortinbras had been killed but not by human hands. He then feared that if he was in his full Oni form again that he wouldn't be able to control himself if he started hurting the people he loved, mainly Kaede. Samanosuke went away for 10 years until Kaede found him. Samanosuke discovered that Marcellus was once an Oni-Warrior during the Oni-Genma Wars and killed in the battle resulted by treachery, that Guildenstern took Marcellus's dead body and modified him into what he is. Samanosuke feared that if he didn’t find a way to understand the Oni powers inside of him then he could have become what Marcellus was. During those years he was away, Samanosuke was able to understand and fully mastered the mystic powers of his Oni gauntlet. During the events of Blade Warriors, Samanosuke and Kaede team up with Jubei and some of his teammates. Onimusha 3: Demon Siege After Onimusha 2, Nobunaga is defeated by Jubei Yagyu but is not destroyed as Jubei was not powerful enough and didn't have an Oni gauntlet to take Nobunaga's soul. He is revived again in 1582 as the King of the Genma and begins anew his conquest of Japan. Akechi Mitsuhide, Samanosuke's uncle, rebels against his former master and launches an attack at Nobunaga, who is at Honno-ji Temple (this mirrors his Incident at Honnō-ji though the events depicted in the game are altered to conform with the series storyline). Nobunaga sends for reinforcements in the form of a Genma tank (depicted as a giant creature resembling an insect) and surrounding forces. In the opening cinematic of the game, Samanosuke (dressed as a ninja) intercepts these reinforcements and ultimately destroys them, including their commander Gargant in a duel. He then sets off to join Mitsuhide in the final assault. Samanosuke takes part in the siege on Honno-ji Temple and corners Nobunaga and his retainer Ranmaru Mori in the flaming temple (Around this time Jubei had gone into hiding, to avoid being hunted down by genma minions of Nobunaga). He defeats Ranmaru without much effort, and then Samanosuke and Nobunaga duel for a short period in which it becomes clear that Nobunaga is superior. Before the Genma Lord can deliver the final blow, Samanosuke and the body of Ranmaru are sucked into a strange vortex and disappear. Samanosuke reappears in Paris in the year 2004 and briefly encounters Jacques Blanc before Jacques is sucked into a similar vortex and also disappears. Through a meeting with the genma scientist Guildenstern, Samanosuke learns the year in which he has arrived and also learns that the genma have been experimenting with time trave, a process by which they can travel to any point in history. Meanwhile in the year 1582, seven days before Mitsuhide's assault on Honno-ji Temple, Jacques Blanc appears near Mount Hiei. He is given a similar magical gauntlet to Samanosuke's by an Oni spirit who tells him the only way back to his original time is to aid Samanosuke in defeating the genma. The Oni spirit also gives Jacques a partner, a small raven-winged being identified as a tengu named Ako, through whose power Jacques can communicate with others around him and with Samanosuke in the future. He then encounters an alternated Samanosuke of a differently timeline, and promises to help him. Samanosuke and Jacques battle against the genma in their respective times, at certain points aiding each other indirectly. During this, the Samanosuke in Paris encounters a revived (and mutated) Ranmaru Mori, and is forced to battle him on several occasions, the final of which takes place atop the Eiffel Tower where the genma have installed the time fold generator. Defeating him, Samanosuke engages the generator and waits. In the past, Jacques Blanc and Samanosuke reach Honno-ji Temple to battle Nobunaga. Nobunaga defeats (but does not kill) the alternated Samanosuke easily and then squares off against Jacques. In a duel Jacques defeats the Genma Lord, seeming to have vanquished him, and helps Samanosuke to his feet. He is then consumed by the vortex of the time fold, only to watch helplessly as Nobunaga recovers and kills the alternated Samanosuke. Samanosuke returns from the future after speaking with Jacques and, after absorbing the power in the fallen alternated Samanosuke, transforms into the Onimusha, the same form he took in the climactic final cinematic of Onimusha: Warlords to vanquish Fortinbras. In the final battle, Samanosuke destroys Nobunaga and absorbs his soul into the gauntlet, preventing him from returning again. In the epilogue, the narrator tells us that Samanosuke has embarked on a new quest: to seal the gauntlet containing the soul of the Genma Lord. The end-credits cinematic of the game shows Hideyoshi Toyotomi, who appeared in both Onimusha: Warlords and Onimusha 2 at the head of an army, saying it is now his time to rule as his eyes glow eerily red. This sets the stage for the next game in the series. Tenkai In Dawn of Dreams, a mysterious monk named Tenkai Nankobo resides at the temple ruins on Mt. Hiei. Sensing an air of evil starting to spread across the land, he eventually discovers Hideyoshi's bold and insidious scheme, and sets out on a journey to find the person that possesses the power of the Oni to help him bring Hideyoshi down. Tenkai's companion is Arin, a girl with mysterious powers. Tenkai's combat style is similar to that of Ekei from Onimusha 2 and Heihachi from Onimusha 3: Demon Siege. In addition, most of the monk's pole arms are named after Hindu deities: Varuna, Indra, and Raksasa. Tenkai's skills are based on Buddhist and Hindu terminology, such as Enlightenment and Nirvana. Tenkai's alternate costume is Ken Masters from Street Fighter. During the game's end credits, it is revealed that Tenkai is none other than Samanosuke from the original game. The last we hear from Tenkai is that he is off on another journey, this time, to seal the Oni Gauntlet, once and for all. Weapons As Samanosuke In his younger days, Samanosuke usually wielded a sword; the only exception being the Chigo, which was an axe. Each one had their own advantages and elemental power. * Normal Sword - His favored samurai katana, an heirloom apparently passed down through his family. Without magic power and minus the ability to charge attacks, this weapon holds little power against the supernatural monsters of the Genma army. Equipped with the Normal Sword, Samanosuke performs a four-move slashing combo when Square is pressed four times. * Raizan - The blue legendary sword of lightning, acquired in Warlords, is rather normal in shape compared to the others. While the lightning attack typically stuns opponents for a few seconds, the sword itself does not inflict as much damage as the other weapons. * Enryuu - This red flaming broadsword, found in Warlords, is a heavy weapon, and it swings a bit slower than the others. Yet the benefit is that Samanosuke can knock enemies to the ground with just a jab or an uppercut, and then quickly finish them off. The Enryuu's magic attack engulfs an enemy in flames. * Shippuu - This green naginata-style weapon, acquired in Warlords, is a dual-bladed spinning nightmare that Samanosuke wields with amazing skill. Because the blades are light and small, single hits of this weapon afflict less damage, but each attack inflicts multiple hits. While the weapon is incredibly fast to use, powerful uppercuts are more difficult to perform, and attempting a finishing move is nearly impossible. However, the wind attack of the Shippuu is one of the most devastating in Samanosuke's arsenal. He has also used this magic attack to stop himself from falling from great heights, or to rotate fans connected to devices. * Tenso - These yellow twin swords, found in Demon Siege, channel the power of light into devastating magic attacks. The Tenso are located in a shrine hidden under the monument on the outdoor grounds of the Arc de Triomphe. While equipped with these golden blades, pressing Square repeatedly will have Samanosuke perform a highly stylized five-move sword dance while attacking enemies. * Kuga - This glowing green extended sword, acquired in Demon Siege, embodies the power of air. The orb enabling this weapon is located in the cathedral of Notre Dame. Its length allows for serration of several enemies grouped together or in a line. Of all Samanosuke's weapons, this is the easiest with which to perform the tricky Ten Slash attack. Press Square repeatedly to execute three broad chops followed by a heavy spin slash attack that sends humanoid-size enemies flying. The Kuga's magic attack is an air blade fired directly ahead, slicing all enemies in a straight line in front of Samanosuke. When the weapon's level is raised to MAX, Samanosuke creates two air blades instead of just one. * Chigo - This powerful orange battle-axe of the Oni clan is imbued with the power of volcanic earth. Samanosuke finds the Chigo in the Undersea Temple of the Oni in Demon Siege. The Chigo is a very heavy weapon, and therefore it is slow to swing. However, the axe's weight causes such high damage per hit that the weapon's drag is worth the trouble. The Chigo's magic attack causes molten lava to erupt from the ground under all enemies in a short radius surrounding Samanosuke, no matter where they stand. When the Chigo is charged for an attack, Samanosuke launches into a spinning attack and whirls after enemies. The forward pull of the weapon is so strong that Samanosuke seems unaffected by enemy attacks, although he still takes damage. While this is the weapon of choice against all oversized foes, the Chigo may be too slow to employ against more nimble enemies. * Bishamon Sword - The Bishamon Sword, first acquired in Warlords, is the ultimate blade of the Japanese god warrior Bishamon, who is historically credited with slaying all the demons in Japan. Though Samanosuke previously obtained this weapon at Inabayama Castle, the Genma stole it and sealed it in the Dark Realm at Honnoji Temple. The Bishamon Sword is a unique weapon so powerful that most foes cannot withstand any more than three attacks. Although it is not capable of charged attacks, Samanosuke won't need them. Pressing Triangle triggers a spin-slash attack that kills most foes instantly. Since the Bishamon Sword is not dependent on magic attacks, this power attack is always available. * Onimusha Sword As Tenkai As Tenkai, Samanosuke utilizes various staffs and halberds in battle. These lengthy pole-like weapons compliment his acrobatic fighting style well, and allow him to poke and jab with both speed and power. Perhaps the greatest benefit to using this type of weaponry is the excellent reach that they allow. Considering he is still relying on melee combat, the staves give him unsurpassed range and allow Tenkai to hang back further away from his enemies where he is often out of reach of their swords and clubs. * Kurama * Yama * Horin * Indra * Dragonfly * Vaisravana * Kasen * Raksasa * Varuna * Monument * Isana * Ice Lord * Brahma * Earth Lord * Bright Star * Fudo * Ususama * Ithuriel * Gozanze * Gae Bolga * Gongoyasha * Gundari * Clarity Notes Capcom used the face of Japanese/Taiwanese actor Takeshi Kaneshiro in the first and third games for Samanosuke's character model. Kaneshiro also provided the Japanese voice talent for Samanosuke in both Onimusha: Warlords and Onimusha 3: Demon Siege. In the English versions of the games, he was voiced by Tig Fong in Onimusha: Warlords, in Onimusha Blade Warriors and Onimusha 3: Demon Siege by Robin Atkin Downes, and in Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams by Joshua Keaton. Gallery Image:SamanosukeArt.png|''Onimusha: Warlords'' Image:OniSamanosuke.png|''Onimusha: Warlords'' Image:OniBWSamanosuke.png|''Onimusha Blade Warriors'' Image:OniDawnTenkai.png|As Tenkai in Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams Category:Onimusha Characters